1. Field of the Invention
The present inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus and method of performing the same, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus and method of image forming in which a toner image formed on a photosensitive body is passed through an intermediate transfer belt to be transferred to a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In image forming apparatuses, particularly, in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, light that is modulated to correspond to image information is irradiated on a photosensitive body to form an electrostatic latent image on a surface of the photosensitive body, toner is supplied to the electrostatic latent image to develop the electrostatic latent image into a visible toner image, and then the visible toner image is transferred and fixed to a recording medium, thereby printing an image on the recording medium.
To print color images, toner images of different colors are formed on a plurality of photosensitive bodies, and the toner images are transferred to a recording medium directly or through an intermediate transfer belt to fix the toner images.
According to a layout of a transfer system, the transfer system may be divided into a method in which a toner image is directly transferred to a recording medium or an intermediate transfer method in which a toner image is first transferred to an intermediate transfer medium and then transferred to a recording medium. Also, the transfer system may be divided into a direct transfer method in which an intermediate transfer roller pressurizes a photosensitive body with an intermediate transfer belt between the intermediate transfer roller and the photosensitive body and an indirect transfer method in which an intermediate transfer roller pressurizes an intermediate transfer belt but does not directly pressurize a photosensitive body.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,521 describes a transfer system using an intermediate transfer method and a direct transfer method, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,248 describes a transfer system in which a toner image is directly transferred to a recording medium using an indirect transfer method.